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Spaghetti Squash, Quinoa and Parmesan Fritters - delicious, healthy snack that everybody in your family will love!
Quinoa tastes AMAZING in this recipe! If you like quinoa you will like it even more after making these savory mini cakes.
How to wring out spaghetti squash
To make these spaghetti squash cakes, you will need to precook the spaghetti squash in the oven as described in the instructions below.
IMPORTANT STEP: After you baked the squash, cooled it, and scraped it with a fork to remove the flesh in long strands, wring out the spaghetti squash by wrapping portions of it in paper towels and squeezing hard with your hands over the sink. Be careful not to drop the spaghetti squash into the sink if the paper towel breaks. Try to get rid of as much liquid as you can. Then, mix in the spaghetti squash with the rest of the ingredients:
How to cook spaghetti squash cakes on stove top
The key to making fritters successfully and making sure they don't stick to the pan is to heat your skillet very hot before adding fritters.
That means that you will need to heat the skillet before even adding oil (otherwise oil will burn). Once the skillet is heated and very hot, add oil which should sizzle immediately and roll all over the pan. Then add tablespoonfuls of fritters. They should not stick at all.
They would stick, however, if your skillet is not hot enough. Experiment and you'll see. 🙂 Get your skillet very hot only for the first batch of fritters, then you can reduce the heat because the skillet will already be heated through enough.
Note that the recipe includes spinach which I mainly add because it makes fritters more colorful, and it also adds nice flavor. You can see that spinach is OPTIONAL in my ingredient list, as I mainly add it for color.
If you ever made crepes, you will find that making fritters is very similar to making crepes in terms of how hot you want to get your skillet for the very first batch of fritters.
These fritters taste amazing with a dollop of sour cream on top:
Or just plain - you'll love them either way:
Spaghetti Squash, Quinoa and Parmesan Fritters
Ingredients
Spaghetti squash fritters
- 2 eggs
- ⅔ cup flour (for gluten free version, use multi-purpose gluten-free King Arthur flour)
- 2 cups spaghetti squash , cooked and wringed out (see below)
- 2 cups quinoa , cooked
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese shredded
- ¼ cup spinach fresh, finely chopped (OPTIONAL)
- ½ teaspoon salt
Garnish
- 2 green onions chopped
- dollop of sour cream or Greek Yogurt
Instructions
How to cook spaghetti squash:
- The recipe requires 2 CUPS COOKED spaghetti squash. First 5 steps describe how to cook spaghetti squash (this can be done 1 or more days in advance):
- Preheat oven to 425 Fahrenheit.
- Cut the squash in 2 halves, scrape out the seeds and the fiber out of each half. Spray oil over the cut sides of the squash. Spray the baking sheet with oil and place the squash on the baking sheet cut side down.
- Bake for about 30-40 minutes. Remove it from the oven when it's cooked through and soft, and let it cool. Flip the squash so that cut side faces up – that will speed up the cooling. After squash cools, scrape squash with a fork to remove flesh in long strands and transfer to a bowl. Let it cool.
- Important: Wring out the spaghetti squash by wrapping small portions of it in paper towels and squeezing hard with your hands over the sink. Be careful not to drop the spaghetti squash into the sink if the paper towel breaks. Try to get rid of as much liquid as you can.
- Cooked spaghetti squash can be refrigerated for 5 days. I prefer to cook spaghetti squash, refrigerate it and make fritters the next day or 2 days later - that allows spaghetti squash to drain the liquid out and get dryer, which is preferable for fritters.
Now, on to how to make fritters:
- In a large bowl, using electric mixer, beat 2 eggs on high speed for 1-2 minutes. Add flour and continue beating for about 30 seconds to combine. To the same bowl, add spaghetti squash, quinoa, Parmesan cheese, finely chopped spinach, and ½ teaspoon of salt. Mix very well until all the mixture has uniform consistency. Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary, even though it should be just perfect.
- Heat a large skillet on high-medium heat until VERY hot. Only then add olive oil. It should sizzle and smoke right away. Using a tablespoon, spoon the tablespoon-ful of the batter for each fritter and drop on the skillet. Using a spatula, correct the shape of each fritter, making it flatter and rounder. Cook until the bottom side of each fritter is golden brown, about 1-2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium. Using spatula, flip fritters to the opposite side, and cook 1-2 more minutes. When flipping the fritters, you can use a spoon on the opposite side of spatula to help push each fritter onto the spatula and then flipping. Turn off the heat and let the fritters sit in the skillet (uncovered) for 2-3 more minutes (check the bottom to make sure it's not burned - if it is too dark, remove fritters from the skillet immediately). Do 4 fritters at a time.
- Serve as is, or top with the dollop of sour cream or Greek yogurt and chopped green onions (delicious if served this way!).
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Is one fritter a serving for 150 calories?
This looks like a wonderful recipe. My question is one of your instructions during the cooking of the fritters. You say to turn the heat off for a few minutes before removing the 4 fritters you are currently making. Do you do this with each group of 4 fritters? That seems pretty time-intensive. Turning the heat on and off for each batch. Is that really what you meant? Just wondered. Thanks so much for your recipes!
Thank you, Kathy! Do this for the first batch, and for the next batches, the skillet should be heated through enough so that you don't have to turn the heat on high and then turn it off (to avoid burning). After the first batch, continue to make the fritters on medium or medium-high heat, depending on your stove: the process should go faster as well. Making these fritters is similar to making crepes - the first crepe is always tricky as you are adjusting the skillet temperature, and the next ones get easier because the pan is already heated through, and you can just keep the skillet on medium or medium-high heat, depending on your stove, and the flipping of the crepes (or fritters) gets easier.
Have you ever had any left over?... wondering if these reheat well?
Yes, I had leftovers each time. 🙂 They reheat really well in the microwave.
I think adding a little time for seasoning OR instead serve with a Chipotle dip. Either would a little flavor profile.
So good. I ended up using mozarella instead of parmesan.... since going to the store for one ingredient sucks... worked well! Great use of my garden's extra spaghetti squash
Loved these fritters..will try these soon.
Please suggest if there's any alternative that i can use instead of quinoa in case quinoa is over in pantry
These were uniquely tasty & a bit time consuming. It took a few bites to get use to the flavor but they were a nice change from the usual. Made the mixture the other day but I don't think I drained the squash good enough because I left the mixture sitting in my fridge for a day & it had little water puddles throughout it. I don't fry anything so I tried oven baking a few before work yesterday but they were still soggy after about 30 min. Put them back in the fridge & today gave another go, this time in the waffle press! Perfect!! Crispy, healthy, waffles came out. Ate with a side of smoked turkey sausage to balance out the interesting combo. They were good but I don't know if I'll make them again anytime soon..
Hi Marlene, I am glad you enjoyed these! I've tried baking these, but it didn't work, so I need to work on creating the recipe to have the baked version of these fritters. Good to hear that you were able to make these in the waffle press! I also found that if I leave the cooked squash (that has already been spooned out in strands) in the refrigerator for a couple of days, it drains on its own and is drier and easier to work with, especially when making these kinds of fritters.
I am anxious to try these. I am also excited that they can be baked instead of (or as a sometimes alternative to) frying them. I've seen many ask for the nutritional information. I am also interested in this due to certain die restrictions that I am on.
What are the calories, fat calories, carbs, sugars, etc for each of these tasty morsels?
I have not tried baking these in the oven, I only made these by frying them on the skillet. Right now, I do no have the capability on my site to provide the nutritional info, but there are tools online that you can use by copying and pasting the ingredients list, such as this online tool: https://www.caloriecount.com/
These were excellent - added 1/2 tsp. each garlic and onion powders. I baked them at 400* in regular size muffin tins for about 25-30 minutes. They're even better reheated the next day! Oh yes, I also used 1 cup finely chopped spinach.
Caroline, so glad you liked the fritters! I agree - they even taste better the next day!
Can I use Almond Flour instead? Thanks.
I haven't tried it with almond flour, but I did make these with a regular multi-purpose gluten free flour and the recipe works perfectly with a multi-purpose gluten free flour.
These look delicious! But I urge you, please research what happens to olive oil and most other oils when you heat it, especially to smoking point. They turn into trans-fats and are toxic to the body! The only safe oil to heat is ghee or coconut oil. Please encourage people to use these and leave the other oils for eating on salads and other cool snacks and dips.
Can you post the instructions for cooking the quinoa? Thanks
Didn't make them yet, but figured out the calories. If you make them exactly the total calories 900. One Tbs olive oil is 135 calories. So you can add to the total.
I'm wondering if you have tried substituting a different kind of squash in this recipe. The idea of using quinoa in the fritters is intriguing , but it is difficult to source spaghetti squash where we live.
I just made these and they're delicious! I've made fritters before with zucchini, I omitted the quinoa because I'm not a fan but they still turned out fabulous, although they are time consuming.